{
  "id": 18093019,
  "title": "Detecting deception in event narratives: the analysis of response latencies and error rates to unexpected questions.",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/03/detecting-deception-in-event-narratives-the-analysis-of-response",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-11-03T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.29.762734v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Deception holds a pivotal role in the examination of human behaviour, particularly in forensic and investigative scenarios where its implications can be profound. While the unexpected questions method has demonstrated encouraging outcomes, its implementation in the context of a fabricated autobiographical account has not been extensively examined. This investigative study endeavors to address this knowledge gap by employing the unexpected questions approach within the framework of a forensic interview.\n\nSixty participants were randomly allocated into two distinct groups: one group comprising individuals who were asked to narrate their most recent day excursion, while the other group consisted of participants who had memorized a fabricated narrative describing a day trip. Both groups underwent an audio-recorded interview that comprised control, expected, and unexpected questions. The findings revealed that both groups demonstrated longer response latencies and elevated error and inaccuracy rates when confronted with unexpected questions. However, these indices were notably higher in the deceptive group, with statistical significance observed for response latency (p = .022, uncorrected for multiple comparisons; p).",
  "summary": "Deception is a central phenomenon in the study of human behaviour, and in forensic and investigative contexts it assumes significance due to its potential consequences. Although the unexpected questions technique has shown promising results, its application to the narration of a false autobiographical event remains underexplored. This study aims to fill this gap using the unexpected questions…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}